


Chaos for Justice

by MercurianAmi (Sandy)



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Esagila Chronicles, F/F, F/M, Gen, ancient babylon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 13:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6196879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandy/pseuds/MercurianAmi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different view of the Golden Kingdom and Silver Millennium.</p><p>Kubaba, an alewife in Akšak, becomes the alewife of the Great House of King Puzur-Nirah and the hinge of history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chaos for Justice

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to @covenmouse for betaing!

_Setsuna was not particularly sure when she had become the storyteller. It might have started with Hotaru, but that thread had become too tangled for even for the Senshi of Time to sort out. What she did know was that, when she’d returned to her quarters for her weekly break, the crowd of children playing in the spacious hallway before the door made her smile._

_She opened the door to a chorus of “Please!” and gestured them all inside. Once they were settled and the snacks--clearly sent by Makoto--were handed around, Setsuna began._

_“Once upon a time, a long long time ago, there lived a young woman.”_

_“Was she the most beautifulest woman ever?”_

_Setsuna laughed. “She was pretty.”_

_“Was she a genius?”_

_“She was clever and wise.”_

_“Was she powerful?”_

_“Ah!” Setsuna smiled. “More powerful than even she could have guessed, and yet, it seemed as if destiny would pass her by. You see, she was a simple alewife.”_

* * *

The sunlight through the tavern windows was bright as Kubaba prepared for the evening’s custom. It was rare for anyone to come so soon after lunch, with merchants being in the city center doing business, the poor in the fields or pleading their cases before the magistrates, and the major landowners planning ways to impress each other or whatever they spent their time doing. Perhaps it was the quiet and sense of productivity, but even as she wiped down tables and prepared the kegs for the evening this was her favorite time of day. Kubaba had not even realized she was singing to herself as she prepared the bar. 

“I don’t recognize that song, mistress.”

She jumped, turning to see three unfamiliar men standing in the doorway. Gathering her wits, she nodded to them with a grin. “It’s a lullaby. It’s a bit early in the day, but if you’re looking for ale, please come in.”

“Thank you, Mistress.”

The men took stools at the bar. Glancing at them, she pulled two red ales and one black ale, handing the black ale to the man who had spoken.

They accepted them, though the speaker studied her for a moment before taking a draught. “Very nice. So, how did you know what to give each of us?”

Kubaba answered with a shrug. “I just do, the magic of the alewife, if you will. So, why aren’t fishermen on the river this time of day?”

“Is gonna storm.” One of the other men answered and then laughed at the expression of disbelief as Kubaba looked out the window at the bright sun. “Fisherman’s magic, ma’am. Though with your ale, you’ve got the better. Compliments, ma’am!” He raised the tankard in a salute as the two other men joined him in the gesture.

“I’ll take your word for it.” She smiled warmly and then returned to preparing for the evening’s crowd while the men spoke. When they left shortly thereafter, the leader handed her a measure of grain.

“It’s too much. I can’t accept this. You know how strict the rules are.” She frowned and moved to measure out the difference. 

The man shook his head and grinned. “Consider it a gift, Mistress. You’ll get in no trouble on our count.”

Before she had a chance to respond, they had gone.

* * *

_“It was widely known that Kubaba was the best alewife in Akšak, perhaps in the whole kingdom. And it was not long before King Puzur-Nirah brought her to be the alewife of the great house of Akšak. The position of royal alewife was a great honor and enviable. And Kubaba came to know the great ones of Earth.”_

* * *

“What are you doing?” Without time for thought, slender fingers clasped larger muscular hands as they were poised over the tankard of double ale.

“Just making it palatable.”

Kubaba sputtered as she looked at the broad man. “Did you just insult my ale?”

He laughed, green eyes smiling, full hair bouncing with the fullness of the laugh. “No. Never!” Turning his hand over despite her still trying to clutch them, he opened it to reveal a fine purple powder. “Your ale is the only thing that makes this almost palatable. I have an appointment with the stars tonight.”

“All right…” She released his hand with a smirk as he dumped the powder into the ale. “Is that safe?”

“Eh.” The man shrugged with a smirk before he drained the ale in a single go, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and grinned. “Safe is relative. That makes the voices clearer, but it tastes like shite. So…refill?”

“Ass.” Kubaba chuckled as she poured him another draft.

“Hey!” A lighter voice laughed. “Don’t call Nephrite an ass. Lowly though the donkey might be, it does not deserve such an insult.”

“Jadeite.” Kubaba pulled the red ale for him, smiling. “Be nice.”

* * *

Nephrite was laughing as he entered the great house’s private tavern and grabbed Kubaba around the waist as she finished setting the tankards for the other three on the table.

“Hey! Hands to yourself without permission!” She swatted at him as he released her and then turned to look at him. “Good talk with the stars?”

“Excellent talk with the stars.” Bowing, the man took her hand, eyes sparkling with merriment. “May I kiss your beautiful lips so I may one day say I kissed you before you were great?”

Rolling her eyes, Kubaba moved to grab a tankard. “Before I was great? I’m the alewife of the great house of Akšak, Nephrite. This is great enough for me.” When she returned, she thrust the tankard of honeyed ale in his hands.

“Ah, but the stars say otherwise! They say you will be greater yet. The greatest!”

“Baba is already the greatest. Are you sure you were talking to the stars and not the cobble stones?” The slightest of the three, with long blonde curls and a musical voice, teased.

“Well…” Jadeite considered. “Perhaps cobble stones are too humble to realize the full greatness of our Baba, Zoisite. I propose instead that he mistook the noble firefly. An easy enough mistake…”

As the three bantered, Kunzite stood and moved to Kubaba. “A word?”

“Of…of course, Lord Kunzite.” He raised an eyebrow at her until she smiled and said. “Sorry, Kunzite. Really, try to be less intimidating, and it’ll be easier to be less formal.”

With a soft snort, he led her away from the others. “You went to the temple yesterday.”

It was Kubaba’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Yes. Of course I did. The king’s house is not exempt from providing for the meal of Marduk.”

“I’m not arguing otherwise, Kubaba. I just wish you had not gone alone.” She would have almost sworn that she saw a frown on his ever stoic face. “It’s not safe.”

Kubaba shook her head.“No one would molest an alewife carrying the ale of offering, Lor…Kunzite. They’re not that desperate. Not yet.”

“Still. Next time, I would feel better if you’d let me know so I can make sure you have an escort.”

“Fine.” 

“Stop monopolizing Baba, Kunzite! You’ll make Endymion jealous.” Nephrite called out as Kunzite rolled his eyes and gestured for her to lead the way back to the others. 

“Wait! What?!” Zoisite laughed. “Why can’t I be the one who’s jealous? Baba is gorgeous and smart and kind and makes amazing ale...”

“Vain idiot!” Nephrite lightly swatted the other. 

Kubaba coughed as Jadeite let out a whoop. “I think perhaps Zoisite and Jadeite were right, Nephrite. You were not speaking with the stars. I assure you, there is nothing going on between myself and…”

“Endymion! Welcome!” Zoisite interrupted her as the door opened.

Kubaba studied him for a moment before moving to get a white ale for him.

“My five favorite people! It’s so good to see you all. Father’s lectures get dryer each day, I swear.” Endymion sat heavily in a chair and gave Kubaba a huge grin as he accepted the ale. “Oooh, the white today! Thank you.”

“And…” She moved back to behind the bar and returned with a plate full of honey cakes.

“Honey cakes! Can we just all marry Kubaba. I could share if it was with you guys?” Jadeite smirked as Nephrite swatted him and the others laughed.

The group joked and laughed and talked until Kubaba asked, “Endymion? Have you had a chance to speak to your father?” 

All quieted and Endymion sighed. “I did. He says he issued an edict of release his first full regnal year and to do so again would make him look weak.”

“His people are starving, Endymion! Your people! Farmers are selling off their land, their children, their wives, their own selves, and he is worried about weakness? Who will be his strength, his army, if there are only nobles, merchants, and slaves?”

“He is the king, Kubaba, beloved of Innana, chosen by Marduk! He knows his duty better than you or even me. I made the argument, but it is his call!” Endymion’s blue eyes hardened, the prince making it clear this conversation was over.

It was Kunzite who answered with his normal quiet intensity. “She’s not wrong, Endymion. If we need an army…”

Endymion sighed. “He’s not worried about that.”

* * *

The sun was bright in the windows as Kubaba tested the most recent batch of the ale of offering. She had told Kunzite she would need an escort on the next day, though she did not yet feel the threat that worried him. Hearing someone enter, she spoke before she looked up from her most sacred task. “I’m not covering for you with Kunzite.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

Hearing a voice she did not recognize caught her attention more fully. Looking up, she frowned. “I’m sorry; this is the tavern of the great house. It’s not open.”

The man, who looked vaguely familiar to her, shrugged. “I am able to go where I will. Trust me, I’m welcome here.”

Her eyes narrowed as Kubaba studied him. “Do I know you?”

“I visited your tavern in the city with two friends of mine once. Tell me, how did you spend the gift of grain my friend gave you?”

Kubaba did not care for the way the man looked at her, as if he were trying to see into her very soul. “I used it to cover the cost of ale for a couple of families in debt. It was a generous gift and any other use would have been wrong. Where did a fisher get so much barley he could just give away?”

“Luck, or perhaps the gods.” The man shrugged. He was not unattractive, though he had the appearance of one who had gone to great lengths to seem unremarkable. His beard was scruffy but only a few days uncombed at most and his clothes were too recently woven and dyed beneath their careful layer of dust and dirt.

He moved closer to her and sighed. “Forgive me for what I do, for what must be done. It is not fair to you, and yet it is necessary.” Reaching out, he laid his hand just below her collarbone and the light from the windows brightened for a moment as if the sun itself had flared. “As I decree, so shall it be.”

When Kubaba’s vision cleared and her ears stopped ringing, she was sure it had been a hallucination. Until she saw that she had served him a tanker of the ale of offering.

* * *

_“The great ones of Earth were not the only people Kubaba met as the alewife of the great house of Akšak.”_

* * *

“So, Kunzite here tells me that you make the greatest ale under the eyes of the gods. I’m doubtful.” The woman swept into the tavern with Kunzite in her wake. Kubaba felt as though a shadow passed over her at the woman’s words and presence. “And of course there’s only one way to find out. Kunzite’s so slow to offer anything other than a sardonic comment that I figure it’s at the least the second best.” She smiled, and golden hair framed a beautiful face with full lips and blue eyes that somehow seemed to both pull one in and lock one out.

Kunzite led the woman to a seat as Kubaba moved to get their ale. “I’ve been working on a new recipe actually. Being the alewife of the great house affords one a bit more time to play around. Should you not like it, I’ll bring another which I know Kunzite approves of.”

“I’m sure whatever you bring will impress, Kubaba.” Kunzite nodded to her as she set the tankards of golden ale before them along with a plate of honey cakes.

The woman studied the ale, holding it up to the light, before sniffing and then taking a slow sip she seemed to hold forever. Kubaba managed not to roll her eyes. “Well, I have not tried every ale under the eyes of the gods, but I can say this is without a doubt the best I have had. Is there any chance I could lure you away?” The woman’s smile seemed more sincere now, and Kubaba wondered if it was because of her ale or something else altogether.

Kubaba shook her head with a grin. “I’m sorry, Lady, I fear I would not fit in among the beauties of Arītu.”

Laughing, the golden haired princess of Arītu nodded to her as Kunzite smirked. “You win. You said she’d know who I was.”

“Kubaba is as one of us.” Kubaba could not help but blush; that was far beyond the compliment he’d paid her ale.

“I’m sure she is.”

* * *

“Ah! Kubaba!” Endymion was beaming as he entered the tavern. “What ale goes best with love and all being right with the world?”

“All is right with the world?” Kubaba scoffed as she pulled him a tankard of white ale. “That’s new. When did that happen?”

The prince rolled his eyes as he took a seat and accepted the ale. “White ale, yes, perfect! And you know what I mean, Kubaba. When you’re in love everything is perfect. She makes everything perfect. You should meet her. You would adore her.”

Kubaba studied the prince for a moment before setting a honey cake before him. 

“Oh! And she would adore these! I’m not sure she’d be able to appreciate the ale, she’s so...I don’t think they drink where she’s from.” He laughed.

“Would that be Šin?”

Endymion looked up at her, startled. “How did you know?”

For a moment Kubaba simply looked at the prince, young and vulnerable, and then shook her head with a chuckle. “You’re not as good at hiding as you might think you are, Endymion. Yes, I know. And whether anyone else does or not, they do know that while they starve your father brings in a foreign army.”

“Do we have to do this now, Kubaba? I want to be happy! I’m in love! Can’t you just let me be?” Endymion pouted over his ale, and for a moment Kubaba was tempted to give into his charm.

“Endymion, please.” She reached out to him and touched his cheek fondly. “I’m glad you’re happy, I am. But you have a duty to your people. And I know it’s hard, but that comes first. It has to.”

“After my duty to the gods, right?”

“Yes, exactly!”

He shook his head and pulled back. “No! No, you don’t understand! My first duty is to her; to my heart! It’s not fair to tell me that I have to put everyone before myself!”

“That, Endymion, that is the price of the privilege of never having known hunger.” She glared at him across the bar. “You haven’t worked in the field day after day only to know that there won’t be enough to feed your family, to pay off your debts, or taxes. You have never once worried about which family member you will have to sell or how much of your already too small field you can give up. You have meat on your table every day. And the price of all that is that you take care of the people the gods entrusted to you!”

Endymion stood, slamming his tankard on the bar. “I never asked for any of that.” As he left he fingered a piece of jewelry at his waist, an odd piece Kubaba had never seen the like of before.

* * *

“Before you say anything, Kubaba, it is good to have strong friends.” Kunzite entered alone, and Kubaba was surprised that he would begin so defensively.

She sighed and moved over to him, her arms crossed as she looked up at him unflinchingly. “So it’s true. Our own people starve and sell their children, and we bring an army in from Arītu? How are we supposed to feed them?”

Kunzite showed no reaction. “Arītu is providing for their sustenance. If we have Arītu as allies, the Moon will follow, and once Šin accepts us, there will be no threats.”

“We’ll be a part of the Silver Alliance. And our people…”

“Will be safe. We will have strong friends, Kubaba.”

Kubaba’s eyes studied him, “And this has nothing to do with your entanglements with the Arītu princess.”

His jaw tightened, but there was no other indication of anger. “You know me better than to suggest that. This is about allies and protecting our people.”

Laying her hand against Kunzite’s chest, Kubaba looked into his eyes. “Strong friends are good, being strong is even better. You promised Endymion would be a better king than his father.”

Kunzite placed his hand over hers as a shadow passed over his face. “He will be, Kubaba. I swear that to you.”

* * *

“Do you have a double-double ale?” Nephrite slouched as he sat on the stool. The sight of the broad-shouldered man slouching would have been comical if he had not seem so defeated.

“No. Nor should anyone.” Ignoring his request, she gave him a honey ale. “Bad news from the stars?”

He sighed. “Endymion’s happy, Kubaba. I want to be happy for him, though, I feel bad I led to you expect…”

She reached over and placed her hand on top of his. “No. I had no expectations. You did nothing wrong. The stars misunderstood. Or a different route was chosen. They’re happy. She’s good for him.”

“And yet the stars tell me that this will be the end of us all. How? It’s love! I mean, fine, he’s been neglecting his duties here while the rest of us must be more careful, but he’s not king yet…” He ran his free hand through his mane of hair, his shadow lengthening as he did so, and followed with a drink of ale. “The stars warn of more drought, more famine, and he wants to host a ball…and I get it, Kubaba! Do you not think I would also be glad to desert my duties to…”

“It’s all right, Nephrite. We’ll help him be a better king.”

Nephrite nodded and then sighed. “War is coming.”

* * *

Jadeite and Zoisite tended to be lively and constantly joking, so when they sulked in Kubaba was immediately concerned. Bringing them respectively red ale and ice ale, another new recipe of her own, and honey cakes, she sat with them. “What happened?”

Neither answered for a long moment. Finally, as Zoisite studied the ice ale, Jadeite answered, “Kish is agitating. They have the support of Nippur, Uruk, and Ur.”

“At least.” Zoisite mumbled before taking a sip. 

Jadeite nodded and took a drink of his own ale. “At least.”

“And the army from Arītu?”

Zoisite snorted, but again it was Jadeite who answered. “They don’t want to get involved in internal politics.”

She sighed and reached out to both of them, grabbing their hands. “Then we declare our own release and raise an army.”

Jadeite’s hair and Zoisite’s eyes darkened for a moment, and then they both nodded.

* * *

_“They were unable to make Endymion a better king than his father, as Puzur-Nirah had already sent him to Šin, the Moon, to keep him safe. Nor did they stop the armies led by Kish. Instead, the debt slaves of Akšak which they freed, led by Kubaba and her great generals, joined them.”_

_“The war on Earth was quick, though not bloodless. And though, to Endymion and the loves they had forsaken in order to fulfill their duties to their people and to the gods, the Shitennou were traitors of the worse kind, to the people of Earth they were heroes. Every year their sacrifices were honored, and they became legends and demi-gods.”_

_“Kubaba became the only woman to rule over Babylon and ruled for a hundred years. And it is said that she walked a difficult path between chaos and justice, but only her closest advisors knew how difficult a struggle it was. Eventually, she was honored among the goddesses of many peoples.”_

_The children that had gathered to listen to the tale sat in stunned silence until finally they filed out of the Senshi of Time’s apartment in thoughtful or confused quiet._

_A voice from Pluto’s bedroom doorway said quietly, “You make me sound so noble.”_

_Setsuna smiled without turning around. “I always thought you were.”_

* * *

****

**In the reign of Puzur-Nirah, king of Akšak, the freshwater fishermen of Esagila  
** **were catching fish for the meal of the great lord Marduk;  
** **the officers of the king took away the fish.  
** **...  
** **Kubaba gave bread to the fishermen and gave water, she made him offer the fish to Esagila.  
** **Marduk, the king, the prince of the Apsû, favored her and said: “Let it be so!”  
** **He entrusted to Kubaba , the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world.  
** _-from the Esagila Chronicle, lines 38-40 and 43-45 (early 4th Millenium before the Ice)_  



End file.
